More than one in three companies have no formal whistleblowing hotlines in their overseas offices, with local culture providing the biggest roadblock to establishing a successful whistleblowing programme.

This was one of the findings from a survey of 72 senior legal professionals, conducted by Legal Week in association with global investigations firm Kroll. The majority of the respondents (60%) were either general counsel or legal director level, with most hailing from the financial services sector, followed by the technology and professional services sector. 85% of respondents were UK based, with 71% of these maintaining overseas offices.

This finding show that staff in a company's foreign offices suffer from an uneven application of whistleblower protections and provisions, or – more plainly – access to justice. Much of this problem stems from a lack of corporate awareness of the cultural attitudes towards whistleblowing in the markets in which the companies operate.

In recognition of this, the survey also found that businesses think the greatest obstacle in successfully establishing an overseas whistleblowing programme is local culture. Firms may do their best to promote their whistleblowing programme, but they often use the same methods overseas as in the UK, which are ineffective in other jurisdictions.

For example, 57% of firms said they advertise their whistleblowing programmes on their intranet/social media and via training/workshops, though these may only be in certain languages and too 'foreign' for staff to consider using.

Zoe Newman, a managing director at Kroll said: "When I worked in China, there were often whistleblowing posters everywhere, but they were in English with a London phone number."

For some employees in foreign offices, it's not so much the reporting channel that causes problems as much as a fundamental issue with whistleblowing as a practice. 

Jacqueline Barrett, Group Compliance Director at Vodafone said: "Some cultures would find it a complete anomaly to report to their line manager to raise issues in the way that we're suggesting, which is why I think you have to be as diverse as possible in the range of options you offer employees."

Click here for a video discussion on the findings of the research.